Northern Europe
Forests, lakes, saunas, design — and the northern lights.
Finland is the calm, design-loving heart of the Nordic world — a country of endless forests and tens of thousands of lakes, of saunas and silence, of clean modern cities and, in the far north, the aurora and the midnight sun. It blends Scandinavian cool with a quirky, understated warmth all its own, and its capital Helsinki is a compact, seafront showcase of architecture, design and café culture. Green, orderly and effortlessly stylish, with wilderness never far away.
What things cost: Finland is expensive, like its Nordic neighbours — eating and drinking out especially. The saving graces: superb free nature, cheap and excellent public transport, tap water and the culture of the free public sauna. When a zone below says 'low', that still means dear by most standards.
Sometimes the event picks the city for you.
The most important festival of the Finnish year, celebrating the near-endless light of midsummer — Finns traditionally flee to lakeside cottages for bonfires, sauna and swimming, so the city itself falls quiet (many shops close), but Seurasaari island hosts a lovely traditional bonfire festival. A magical, luminous time of white nights; if you can, get out to the countryside or the islands to feel the real Finnish midsummer.
Helsinki · Seurasaari & the islands
One of Europe's coolest urban music festivals, held in a former power plant and its industrial yards — a stylish weekend of international and Finnish acts across rock, pop, electronic and jazz, with superb food, art and a famously design-conscious crowd. Hip, well-run and quintessentially Helsinki; a highlight of the summer, drawing music lovers from across the Nordics to the atmospheric Suvilahti site.
Helsinki · Suvilahti
The traditional St. Thomas Christmas Market fills the elegant Senate Square with wooden cabins of Finnish crafts, gifts, mulled 'glögi' and festive treats, with a carousel and Santa in the pretty, often-snowy setting beneath the white cathedral. Atmospheric and cosy, a lovely reason to brave the dark Finnish winter; warm up with a glögi, browse for handmade gifts, and soak up the Nordic Christmas spirit.
Helsinki · Senate Square
